


Committed to being Opal

by Raptarion



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-22
Updated: 2015-08-22
Packaged: 2018-04-14 08:12:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,029
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4557231
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Raptarion/pseuds/Raptarion
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Amethyst and Pearl have been formed together as Opal for a long time now. But some sort of internal struggle has broken them apart. And now it's up to Steven to fix things.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Committed to being Opal

Steven lay down at the foot of his bed, head draped over the side as he watched TV. The volume was muted for now while he talked to Connie over the phone about the trailer for the next installment of the dogcopter franchise.

"It was so good! Did you see the part where dogcopter dodged through that crowd of cyborg aliens in the subway? Oh I can't wait to see that in theaters!" Steven gushes.  
"Yeah that part was cool. But I noticed some stuff in the background that seems to conflict with the books canon. I saw the symbol for Dogcopter's nemesis from the second movie on that giant mech. And he should still be in prison according to the official canon."  
"Yeah, but can you imagine how awesome a mech built by Dr. Dogcatcher would be? So what if it doesn't follow the story exactly? You said yourself that the last movie was good despite taking liberties."  
"There's taking liberties, and then there's abandoning the narrative entirely."

The sound of the warp activating catches Steven's attention. He looks over to see Opal standing there.  
"Sorry Steven, but I have to go. My mom wants us to go somewhere." Connie says.  
"Yeah. And Opal just got back from her mission, so I'm going to talk to them."  
"Tell her I said hi."

The call ends and Steven peers over the edge of his bedroom to look down at Opal, pacing slowly in the living room.  
"Hi Opal." Steven says cheerfully.  
"Hello Steven." Opal says quietly.  
"How was the mission?" He asks.  
Opal doesn't respond. She seems distracted.  
"...uh... Connie says hi by the way."  
Nothing. Just more pacing.  
"Are you alright? You seem awfully quiet."  
She stops to look at him.  
"I'm... sorry Steven. We're just- what is your problem?" Opal says, her tone suddenly changing.  
"Huh?" Steven exclaims, confused.  
"There isn't a problem. I just- Don't want to be with me?- You know that's not- I don't want to hear it." Opal rants to nobody.  
"Oh no." Steven groans, recognizing the tell tale signs of a fusion breaking apart from an internal struggle.

He rushes down the stairs. "OK you guys. Stop fighting. Whatever it is I'm sure you can-"  
But it was too late. By the time he reaches the bottom of the stairs Opal was gone. Pearl lay on the floor with Amethyst standing over her.  
"Fine! You clearly don't want me around. So I'll just go!" Amethyst screams at her.  
"Amethyst. Let me-" Pearl starts.  
"Don't bother. I get the message." Amethyst yells, cutting her off. She storms off in the opposite direction, towards the warp pad. Pearl stands up and strides after her.  
"Amethyst please. I-" She starts. But Amethyst whips around and stops her foot.  
"Just leave me alone!" She screams, the sound of the warp pad activating punctuating her statement. And in a flash of light she was gone.

Pearl stands there, arm still outstretched to stop someone who wasn't there any longer. Steven quietly walks up next to her.  
"What happened?" Steven asked.  
"...I pushed her away." Pearl says meekly, hand dropping to her side.

"We have to do something. You two can't start fighting again." Steven says.  
"I'm not sure what I can do Steven. The last person she wants to see right now is me." Pearl says, walking away.  
"Well then... I'll talk to her for you. Once she's calmed down you two can talk right?"  
Pearl doesn't respond, just leaving out the front door. He hears the sound of the temple door opening behind him, and turns to see Garnet.  
"Garnet. I need your help. Pearl and Amethyst are having an argument. I need to find Amethyst so I can fix things before they get worse. Can you tell me where she went?"  
"Of course Steven." Garnet says, putting her hand to the side of her head. After a moment she brings it back down to her side. "She is where you found the heaven beetle."  
"Thank you Garnet!" Steven says, rushing to the warp pad.  
"Good luck Steven." Garnet says as way of goodbye.

With a flash of light Steven disappears on the warp pad. He taps his foot impatiently on thin air as he flies through the warp. He didn't know why Pearl and Amethyst were fighting. But he hoped it wasn't anything too bad. It was always awful when the other gems let an argument get in the way of their friendship.  
After what seemed like far too much time, he appears on the mountain peak where the path to the old gem temple was. He wastes no time in running to find Amethyst. She wasn't around the warp, so he goes to find wherever she went. He calls her name out as he runs along the path and its' many obstacles, getting no response.

He finally finds her just in front of the numerous floating dirt islands leading to the temple, sitting on the edge and looking out to the place where they had found the heaven beetle. Steven walks up behind her.

"Amethyst?" He says.  
"What do you want?" Amethyst asks with barbed words.  
"I came to see what's wrong." He says, sitting down next to her.  
"Nothing's wrong." She brings her knees up to her chin and wraps her arms around them.  
"Yes there is. You and Pearl are fighting over something." He points out.  
"So what? We fight over stuff all the time." She says evasively.  
"You used to. But you've been getting along so well lately. I don't know what's changed, but I'm sure if you two try you can work it out."  
"Nothing's changed Steven. That's the whole point. I thought things were better. I thought she was starting to like who I am. But she thinks I'm a screw up. She hates me."  
"That isn't true. You know that."  
"Do I?" She asks sarcastically.  
"Yes you do. You matter to everyone. Garnet, Sapphire, Ruby, Me, My dad, Connie. And Pearl. Even if she doesn't always show it she still loves you. You love her too don't you? Even when you're fighting, Pearl still matters to you." Steven says passionately.

Amethyst doesn't reply, her head just sinks further into hiding between her arms and legs.  
"...you can take some time if you need to. But please talk to Pearl. You can't let things go on like this. It's only going to make you miserable."  
"...fine. I'll talk to her. Later." Amethyst says.  
"Do you want me to leave you alone?" He asks.  
"Yeah. But thanks for coming by Steven." She says.  
"Any time." Steven says, before starting the long trek back down the mountain.

He reappears in front of the temple door in a flash of light. Garnet is sitting down on the couch.  
"Things went well." She says.  
"I think so. We still need to wait for them to patch things up." Steven replies. He sees Pearl outside on the deck and rushes out to talk to her.

"Hello Steven." She says. She doesn't turn her head away from watching the beach. Her face void of expression.  
"Hi Pearl. Are you OK?" He asks.  
"I'm... not sure." She replies.  
"I... talked to Amethyst." He says.  
"...what did she say?" She asks, not seeming particularly hopeful it was going to be anything good.  
"She's going to take some time to calm down. But when she gets back she wants to talk to you."  
"Oh. Well that is... that's good." She says, her voice sounding slightly hopeful.  
"Yeah. You can work this out. I'm sure of it!" Steven says.  
Pearl smiles at him.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was later in the day. Garnet, Steven, and Pearl were gathered around the table playing cards. Garnet reveals her hand.  
"I win." She says.  
"Aww. You always win. How do you do it?" Steven asks.  
"She cheats." Pearl says.  
"What? How does she-" Steven starts, before cutting himself off with a gasp. "Garnet. Do you use future vision to win?"  
"No. You two just have terrible poker faces." She says, gathering up the pot. Which in this case was just cookies.  
"Aww. I'm almost out." Steven says, looking at what few cookies he had left.  
"One more round? All or nothing?" Garnet asks.  
"Yeah. Let's do this." Steven says, pushing all his cookies to the center of the table.  
"OK, I'm in too." Pearl says.

Garnet deals out the hands. As soon as Pearl and Steven pick them up, Garnet says "I fold. Steven wins." whilst standing up.  
"Wait. But we haven't even shown our hands yet." Steven says.  
"I knew it! You do use future vision." Pearl accuses.  
"No. Steven wins because you're not going to eat the cookies, even if he looses."  
"...you make a good point. I fold too." She says.  
"Woo hoo! All the cookies are mine! Om nom nom!" Steven says excitedly, munching down the sugary treats with relish.  
"Don't eat all of them at once. You'll get sick." Pearl fusses.  
"If shoe shay sho." Steven says through a mouth full of cookies.

At that moment there is a flash of light. Steven turns to look at the warp pad. Pearl looks towards the ground. Amethyst stands on the warp, partially obscured by Garnet on her way to the warp herself. She stops and says something to Amethyst that Steven can't hear. Then she steps onto the warp and disappears. Amethyst approaches the table where they sat with hesitant steps.

"Hey Amethyst." Steven says in way of greetings.  
"Hey Steven." She says quietly, not looking at him. Her attention was focused on Pearl, who was still looking at the ground.

Steven sits awkwardly, unsure what to do.

Finally, Pearl speaks up.  
"Would you like to start? Or should I?" She asks.  
"Why don't you want to be with me?" Amethyst asks, her voice almost unnaturally calm.  
"That's not it Amethyst. " Pearl says quickly.  
"But you were TRYING to get away from me. I could feel it. Don't act like that's not what happened!" Amethyst says, her voice rising steadily. Pearl stays quiet, as if anticipating more. But Amethyst just stands there, tense and angry. Eventually Pearl starts talking again. Starting out hesitant, but growing slowly more confident the more she speaks.

"...I love being Opal with you. When we're together I'm strong, and confident. I'm happy and... and I feel like I can actually help everyone. But that's why I needed to get away Amethyst. I'm afraid I was growing... dependent on all of that. When I'm alone I'm weak. Worthless. I can't let Opal just be an easy way for me to ignore what's wrong with me."  
"But... you're not worthless Pearl. You're so smart, and... you're so much more than you realize. You've done some amazing stuff without anyone's help." Amethyst says in earnest.  
"It's nice to hear you say that. But I still need to spend time as myself. Then maybe I can see myself the same way you see me. Without any help." Pearl says.  
Amethyst doesn't seem to have a response to that.  
"I'm sorry Amethyst. I know it feels great to be Opal. And I'm not saying we still can't form her sometimes. Just that I'd prefer to spend more time as Pearl. That's... OK with you right?" Pearl asks, sounding unsure.  
"Yeah. It's fine. I'm... sorry about earlier by the way. When you were trying to break away earlier, I thought it was because you hated me or... I don't know." Amethyst said, looking away.  
"Never." Pearl says. Amethyst looked back, smiling.

"Aww. That was so sweet." Steven says. The pair looks toward him, seeming a little surprised. They seemed to have completely forgotten he was there.  
"What? Everyone's allowed to get sappy once in a while." Amethyst says, rubbing the back of her neck as she blushes.  
"Come on you two! Group hug!" Steven says, running over and pulling the two in. They both awkwardly stiffen up at first. They look at each other over Steven's head. With a grin and a shrug, they wrap their arms around to complete the hug. Happy to share a nice moment after ending their argument.


End file.
